


You're all I have - Father Tony / Son Peter AU

by a starker slut (louielouie)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Good Peter, Hurt Peter, Hurt Peter Parker, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) is a Good Bro, Kid Peter Parker, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter is a Little Shit, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, peter is a kid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23988178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louielouie/pseuds/a%20starker%20slut
Summary: Tony Stark Father AU of Peter ParkerRDJ and Tom Holland as Tony and Peter, fight mePepper started an orphanage programme 4 years ago and never had the intention of adopting any of the children, until a small brown haired boy stayed on the street one night.orTony sees Peter and decides that he loves him immediately
Relationships: Happy Hogan/May Parker (Spider-Man), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 12
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

1

He was a happy kid, his aunt and uncle had looked after him since he could remember and that had been okay. They told him about his parents often, and told him constantly that they would be ‘so proud’ of him. He felt loved and protected, he knew that his aunt and uncle would do anything for him to make sure he was safe. 

And so the week after his seventh birthday, when Uncle Ben didn’t come and pick him up from school, Peter didn’t know how to feel. He’d seen the other kids waiting for their parents at the school gates, but Uncle Ben was always the one waiting for him. Just outside, two cars to the left. Always in the beige ford. Always. 

Peter looked around, saw the other kids getting picked up and one by one they all left, and the sky had begun to darken. Peter sat down on the sidewalk and hugged his backpack into his chest, shivering. It was officially dark now, and the breath that came out of his mouth was cold. The school gates had been locked, and nobody had noticed Peter’s shivering form on the sidewalk, or hadn’t cared. 

Peter rummaged into his bag and pulled out his lunchbox, his stomach growling loudly. Opening it he found his juice box, and a few bites of a cheese sandwich that he hadn't eaten at lunch. Ramming them into his mouth he felt a hot fat tear roll down his cheek and he hugged his backpack into his chest a little tighter. Scared of the world around him. 

Growing up in Queens with his aunt and uncle, they told him stories about why it wasn’t safe to go out at night, and now here he was. Abandoned by the same people. Peter’s mind began to wander, and he started coming up with excuses for Aunt May and Uncle Ben and the reason as to why they weren’t here, with Peter. 

“There was heavy traffic sorry Pete!” but as no cars rolled past him, he found that one hard to believe. 

“We won the lottery and we were collecting our new car to come get you! Sorry that we didn’t tell you”, maybe. But even at the age of seven, Peter knew that May and Ben didn’t enter themselves into the lottery because it was a “waste of time, hope and money” as May had said a few weeks back. 

“We forgot about you”, with that thought another tear rolled down Peter’s cheek. 

Squeezing his eyes closed to stop them from welling up again, Peter felt himself falling sleepier and heavier, the cold taking over his body. 

\- 

Peter woke up to hands on his chest and fear in his mind. His eyes snapped open and he flailed violently to get the other person’s hands off of him. He saw his math teacher standing over him, pale as a ghost and Peter looked around him, trying to work out what was going on. The math teacher had sat back on his heels and Peter sat up, grabbing his backpack and hugging it into his chest. He blinked rapidly and noticed that the sky was bright now, and his limbs were numb with cold. “Peter?” the math teacher (Mr. Lee) asked gently. 

Peter looked around and saw some cars parked on the side of the road, more than there were the last time he’d looked during the middle of last night, at least. And then he looked up at Mr. Lee, “yes?”. The math teacher stood up and helped Peter to get up, Mr Lee smiled gently at him and put his woolen cardigan over Peter’s shoulders. 

“Let’s get you into school ok?” he asked, his soft voice making Peter’s shallow breathing deepen slightly. Now slightly less afraid of the world.

-

Peter had been sat in Mr Lee’s classroom for over an hour, as that is what the big ticking clock said above the desk. He had been given some toast from the teacher’s break room and Mr Lee had asked about what happened last night and then excused himself from the room, that was 45 minutes ago. 

Peter lay his head down on the desk in front of him and let his eyes close for a second, it just felt so much better being warm that he couldn’t help it. 

When he woke up, things were a lot less peaceful than he remembered. Firstly Mr Lee was back in the classroom, and so was the headmaster Mr Barnes and two other people he didn’t recognise. One was a tall but chunky man, with fluffy brown hair like Peter had, and another was a slim woman with blonde-ish hair and a clipboard. 

The man Peter didn’t recognise noticed that he was awake and he notified the other people in the room, who had all been discussing something. Mr Lee spoke first, “Hi Peter, you okay buddy?”. Peter nodded nervously and watched as all of the adults sat down on chairs around him and were all smiling weirdly.

“Where’s my Uncle, he should have come and picked me up last night?” he asked Mr Lee, who had left earlier to go and find out. Mr Barnes spoke instead of Mr Lee, “he was in an accident last night Pete, he died on the way to the hospital”. Peter felt the tears going down his numb cheeks but everything else felt alive, he was ready to scream, and throw something. “Then where’s May?” he almost screamed. 

“She went to the hospital to find your uncle and then was admitted into the hospital until she is given the all-clear, do you understand what I’m saying?” Mr Barnes said, Peter shook his head, if May wasn’t hurt why was she in hospital? Mr Barnes spoke again, whilst moving towards Peter’s table and kneeling in front of it, so he was now eye-level with Peter. “She was so sad about your uncle dying that she tried to… hurt herself” Mr Barnes paused, “She’ll be okay soon Peter, but for now you need somewhere to live, and this is where Mrs Potts comes in” he shuffled to the side and allowed the blonde woman to wave gently at Peter. He looked back at Mr Barnes cautiously, “what?” he asked, very confused. Mr Barnes continued, “Mrs Potts runs a place that helps to find kids homes, she’ll find you one until your aunt is ready to take you back.” Peter nodded, he understood that he can’t live on the sidewalk until May was ready to take him back to their flat. “Do I still get to come to school Mr Barnes?” He asked. 

Mr Barnes nodded and smiled, “yes, I have arranged that your new foster family will come and drop you off here every morning and come and collect you in the evenings. Okay?”. Peter nodded, grateful. “Thank you Mr Barnes, I don’t want to start a new school now, just ‘cause everything else is going to change.” Mr Barnes nodded and smiled. 

He stood up and backed off, allowing Mrs Potts and the other man to step forwards, “this is my assistant Peter, he’s called Happy.” Peter smiled at Happy, he liked his name. Mrs Potts smiled at Peter, “you’ll miss school today, because we need to sort everything out with you, so if you want to go get anything you want from your locker, we can get going okay Peter?”. 

Peter nodded and left the room after glancing at the other adults who all smiled encouragingly.


	2. Chapter 2

Pepper POV 

Sat at her desk Pepper was reviewing a case file of a small 8 year old the company had found under a bridge in downtown New York, she had overseen some of the case, as she normally did, and she told everyone on the team that she wanted to review it before it got filled into the data server. She was the CEO, sure, but she still liked to be aware of the newest, and hardest cases. Sometimes she even personally dealt with them, reminding herself as to why she set up ‘The Protection of our Future’ or TPoOF for short, because she was one of the few people with money who gave a shit about children in poverty. 

Her husband, Mr Tony Stark, technically had all the money but he insisted on setting up a company of Pepper’s choice after they were married with his funds to allow her to help the world in whatever way she wanted to. And so she had created TPoOF. She realised that her gaze had wandered from her computer screen and to just past it in a blurred, not quite vacant stare. She re-focused her eyes on the screen to see a notification slide away from view.

Out of curiosity she pulled up the notification and read that there had been an abandoned child alert by a school teacher, and that two people were needed to go and sort it out. She called for her assistant “Happy!”. As he popped his head through the door, she was tugging on her coat and grabbing her handbag, “We’re going to see the reported school kid in Queens, get the car”. As he walked away, she heard him dialing the number of the volunteers, presumably to make sure nobody else was already there, she followed him down the stairs and into the garage and into her sleek black Audi.

Within 20 minutes they were on the school premises, the car clicking locked shut behind them as they walked into the front gates. It was nearing 7:30 AM and she was aware that the school would be opening soon for the other children. She produced her ID and so did Happy; the headteacher, Mr Bucky Barnes as he introduced himself, showed them towards a corridor and into a classroom, there was a small boy asleep, his head on his desk and his body completely limp. He looked exhausted. 

Pepper shook the hand of the other teacher that had been sitting in the room, he was an elderly gentleman called Mr Lee, and he told Happy and herself about Peter’s night. It sounded horrible and she was happily surprised that nothing more unsavoury happened to the boy during the night. She took all the notes of the night and she gave Happy instructions to research what had happened to the boy’s parents. She was quickly interrupted by Mr Barnes “that’s pointless”, he stated. Pepper raised her eyebrow, “why’s that?”. 

“They died when he was one, I don’t know how, or what happened, but since then his aunt and uncle have been taking care of him, Ben and May” Pepper nodded and Happy understood to look into them instead. He left the room, and Pepper perched herself on one of the plastic desks, “so he’s never had signs of neglect before? Or abuse?”. Both the teachers shook their heads, “he’s always happy, smiling and I’ve seen his uncle picking him up multiple times, he’s always happy to see him. And the uncle is always waiting for him outside the gates, and he is never late to school”. 

Pepper nods and writes this all down, “and nothing out of the ordinary yesterday?”, both males shook their heads and Mr Lee looked down at the floor. “I’m fairly certain that if one of my students was sitting on the sidewalk I would have noticed, but I didn’t see him yesterday afternoon. I left quite promptly after school finished… if I had been 20 minutes later I would have seen him and asked him. Then he wouldn’t have been out there all night”. Pepper nodded, “but you weren’t and there’s nothing you can do about that, other than make sure that he’s okay now. You did the right thing by contacting my company.” Mr Lee smiled and nodded. 

Happy came back into the room quietly and looked at Pepper, he had two fingers over the top of his laptop, signalling that it is a category 2 situation out of 4: 1 being the worst and 4 being the most manageable. “Go ahead Happy”, Pepper prompted. 

“His uncle was in a car crash last night, presumably on his way here, and was rushed to hospital, he died in the ambulance. His aunt was called into the hospital and she attempted suicide due to greif, she’s in the psych ward until they think she’s safe to leave. Nobody knew they had a nephew to look after. May Parker hasn’t mentioned him apparently.” the room was silent. “Fuck” Pepper breathed out, that was almost a category 1. Not a 2. 

Happy sat in a chair defeatedly. Pepper knew that he was a very kind-hearted man and that every case dug into his heart like a knife. “You can leave if it's better, Happy? I’m okay.” He looked up and shook his head, “I need to drive you back anyway, but I’m fine. Thank you though” he smiled gratefully and Pepper smiled back. She handed her notebook to Happy, “can you start typing these up?”. She turned back to the two teachers, who were just watching the sleeping boy, “if it's okay with both of you, I’d rather he wakes up in his own time, and then we tell him everything from there. We don't know how much sleep he actually got last night.” Both the teachers nodded, and Pepper looked at Mr Barnes, “what time does the school open?”. 

Mr Barnes looked at his watch and hummed, “in 36 minutes, at 8:30”. Pepper nodded and sat down into a chair properly, “We should wake him up before then, I’d rather not have him interacting with too many people after last night, the poor boy was probably scared shitless.” Both the men nodded grimly. 

Pepper’s phone vibrated in her bag as she finished speaking and as she fished it out she saw her husband’s name flash across the screen, standing and moving to the side of the room she answered it.

“Hey Tony,”  
“Heya Mrs Potts, I’m at your office for our 8 AM breakfast-meeting-chat-thing, where are you, and where’s Happy?”

“Shit I forgot, I’m at a school, a kid was left here overnight and we’re just waiting for him to wake up”

“That sounds rough, I’ll stay here until you come back, can I use your computer?”

“Yes, only if you don’t change the desktop wallpaper again”, she remembered opening it to a naked selfie of her husband and almost dying of embarrassment, even though nobody could see the screen but her. 

“I pinky promise”

“Bye Tony, love you”

“Love you too Pep”

And then she hung up, she smiled at Happy who looked up at her when she said “love you”, since he clearly knew who she was on the phone to, “I’ve cleared your schedule for the rest of the day, I take it you’re going to take this case?” his head nodded to Peter, the sleeping child. Pepper nodded, “may as well, I’m here aren’t I?”, she smiled at Peter and sat back down on the table, the two teachers were talking back and forth about how to tell the other staff about this. 

“May I?” Pepper interrupted, both looked up at her, “Tell them the truth, and also tell them to still treat Peter the same, when he comes back to school”. They nodded, Mr Barnes looked at Pepper, “so he’s staying here? You’re not going to move him halfway across the state?”. Pepper shook her head, “we try to keep them in the same street if it's possible, so no, he won’t be leaving this school. Are there fees?”. 

Mr Barnes nodded, and so Pepper replied, “invoice my company and we’ll cover Peter’s for the rest of the year, it’s just easier than each of the foster parents arguing about them”. Mr Barnes nodded, and wrote a reminder on his hand to do so. 

Peter made a small whining noise as he woke up and stretched, his body shaking from the tension. Pepper stood up, as did the other adults in the room, all waiting for Peter to open his eyes, Pepper glanced at the clock: 8:12. 

-

Mr Barnes stood up and walked away from Peter, allowing Pepper and Happy to step forwards, “this is my assistant Peter, he’s called Happy.” Peter smiled at Happy, seemingly becoming comfortable knowing who they were. Pepper smiled softly at Peter’s round innocent face, “you’ll miss school today, because we need to sort everything out with you, so if you want to go get anything you want from your locker, we can get going okay Peter?”. Peter nodded and left the room after glancing at the other adults who all smiled encouragingly. 

Pepper crumpled into the chair and brethed in deeply, “fuck”. She sighed, Happy immediately by her side, “Pep? You okay?” he asked tentatively. She breathed in and looked at Happy, “mhm, I just… he’s so sweet and I…” she stopped herself, she needed to be professional right now. In front of Happy she could accidentally cross the line and he’d respect her mistake and not judge her for it, but these two teachers would be less forgiving she feared. “I felt faint for a second” she lied. 

Happy helped her up and tidied away all of their stuff, they were escorted out to the hall by Mr Barnes, Mr Lee choosing to stay in the classroom. Soon Peter came round the corner and smiled awkwardly at Pepper and Happy, her heart melting just a little more. “Ready?” she asked the sweet kid, he came up to her hip and she immediately wanted to drop to her knees and give him a hug and reassure him that he would never have to feel cold again, but she couldn’t. 

Not if she didn’t want an ‘inappropriate behaviour’ report for touching a vulnerable child, as innocent as she meant it to be. Peter nodded and Happy took the boy’s backpack off him, which was considerably fuller than last time she’d seen it. 

\- 

Peter had been super quiet throughout the journey to the TPoOF centre, and Pepper wondered if it was due to nerves or whether Peter was just a quiet kid. 

They were around a minute away so Pepper turned her head to face Peter, “heya, we’re getting close to the centre, you ok?”. He nodded and Pepper noticed he was fidgeting with his fingers, something he hadn’t done yet. “You nervous?” he nodded slightly, “its ok, you’re ok now. I promise you’re safe now”.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony POV

Tony paces around Pepper’s office, he was talking to Jarvis excitedly, he was currently working on a new system that would allow him to make the Iron Man suits stronger and more robust. Making them less likely to be damaged and more durable in fights. 

He was working with his new AI system and making sure that Jarvis could function properly without malfunctioning. So far, even though he wasn’t coded to do so, Jarvis understood that when he said “shut it”, he meant “be quiet” or just “turn off”. And when Tony had spilt coffee on himself, and swore loudly, Jarvis understood that ‘Mr Stark cannot answer your call right now’ and had shown incredible learning speeds - which was explainable since he was AI, but at the same time, Tony was shocked Jarvis was working at all. 

Jarvis informed him that Pepper’s car had pulled into the carpark and that Happy’s code had been entered into the elevator system and therefore they were coming up to this floor imminently. Tony rushed around and cleared all his mess off of Pepper’s desk and shoved it all in a trash can to the side of her desk, in the process swiping an important document into the trash which he then had to get back. As he pulled his arm out of the trash Pepper and Happy walked into the office, confused as to what he was doing with his arm in the trash can. 

“Hi honey, you’re home!” Tony tossed the document towards the table where everything else he was using was strewn. He walked over to Pepper, expecting a hug but she put her hand out so he couldn’t come closer. He looked at her confused, “huh?”. From behind Happy a little kid showed his face and looked at Tony confused. Tony made eye contact with the boy and was instantly hit with a wave of unconditional love. 

It clicked in his head that this must be the kid Pepper was talking about earlier, he moved sideways and waved his hand to the couch, “go sit up there if you want, want any food?” Tony quickly squatted to the floor to reach the kid’s eye level and the kid nodded shyly. 

“I’m going out to get cheeseburgers later but do you want a PB&J sandwich for now?” Tony offered, the kid nodded and politely said “yes please Mr…?”

“Stark, but call me Tony.” The kid nodded and sat on the couch gently, “thank you Mr Stark”. Tony stood up and walked towards the door to start making the sandwich and then made eye contact with Pepper who was looking at him as if he had developed a penis for a nose. “What?” he whispered. 

Pepper asked Happy to keep the kid occupied and then they walked out of the office and closed the door. “What was that Tony?” Pepper asked, a smile forming on her lips, “what was what?” he asked. He moved to the kitchenette down the hall and began making the sandwich happily, “I’ve never seen that side of you before. Ever.” Pepper said, leaning against the wall, watching her husband in shock. “And! You’ve never made me a sandwich before, let alone a random kid that my company is looking after. Tony? What’s going on?”. Tony leant against the counter and sighed. “I had a dream last night, it was really real and we had a kid. It was so real, I- I don't know Pep. He looks like our kid in the dream.” Tony sighed and Pepper nodded, “Okay… but you can’t just steal him. He needs to go into the system until his aunt can care for him”. 

Tony walked up to her and rested his head on her shoulder, “I know” he breathed in deeply and Pepper wrapped her arms around Tony’s chest “I just, I feel so much for him already and I’ve known him for a minute. It’s weird.” Pepper nodded and smiled, “you feel this unwavering need to just protect him right?” Tony lifted his head and looked right into Pepper’s eyes, “yes. Exactly that feeling.” Pepper nodded, “same.”

\- 

Tony handed over the PB&J sandwich and smiled as Peter began to eat it quickly and thanked Tony with a mouth full of food, and then immediately apologising after. Tony laughed slightly and dragged a chair over to Pepper’s desk gently. Pepper was emailing a few of the managers to see what the protocol was about this kind of situation, and to make sure that they could actually do so without getting their hopes up. Pepper did know, however, that any member of security-cleared staff could keep any of the children occupied, and take them out for walks and such. “Tony…” she grabbed his attention away from watching the kid reading one of Tony’s science magazines on the couch, amd towards him. 

She told him what he could do, and where he could find a burger chain place to eat - to take Peter to. 

Tony’s eyes lit up at the idea of being able to get to know Peter better, but Pepper reminded him that it might not be possible to do. He nodded and understood and walked over to Peter who was peacefully flicking through the magazine. 

“Like what you see?” He asked, Tony sat on the floor next to where Peter was sat, so as to not seem too big and intimidating, and Peter nodded and smiled. “I love science class, and some of this is like what Miss Shuri talks about, she’s my science teacher at school.” Tony nodded and saw that the page Peter was looking at was covering his theories of alloy manipulation, and how to make them more compatible, something he doubted a first grade would know about. “Want to go on a walk and talk more about this stuff?” Tony asked, doing his best to sound fun and friendly. Peter looked at Pepper “is that okay? Do I not have to stay with you Mrs Potts?”. Pepper smiled and assured Peter it was okay to go with Tony if he wanted to, Peter nodded and seemed to be excited to spend some time with ‘Mr Stark’ as he called him (and refused to call them Pepper and Tony as they kept requesting). 

-

Tony and Peter walked towards the fast food restaurant and Tony watched as the kid beside him skipped and jumped whilst holding Tony’s hand, purely out of excitement of getting food. Tony smiled and felt a dangerous amount of happiness in his heart, he felt so protective over this kid in such a short amount of time, he didn’t want to think about what would happen if the company didn’t let him and Pepper take Peter home with them.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony’s POV

Tony watched and focused on the coffee shop around them, and then rethought what he was doing. He’d never surveyed a space for threats, ever. And yet as soon as he had Peter’s hand in his, he was watching for people that could be too loud, people that could frighten him, people that looked at kids in a funny way. He was analysing every person in the room as a threat and he was more than confused. 

Was this a natural, parental instinct? Or was this Tony’s anxiety escaping back after years of therapy. He didn’t know, all that he cared about was getting Peter the strawberry milkshake that he’d requested a couple of minutes ago. Which he would have walked to the moon to get apparently, because he had immediately asked Jarvis where the best strawberry milkshakes were and had then headed in that direction until they were standing where they were in a line about to order. 

Even though he knew that Peter didn’t know much about money, or anything ‘adult like’, Peter still understood that this was a lot of effort for an almost-stranger to go to for him. And as soon as he had asked where they could get a strawberry milkshake, he’d apologised and batted his suggestion down and then apologised some more, seemingly embarrassed that Tony was doing everything he wanted to do. 

Peter was an adorable kid, and horrendously polite and well mannered, something Tony knew he was the opposite of when he was Peter’s age. His parents had taught him manners and politeness but he rejected their strictness and was one of the worst behaved children he knew. He knew that to make sure Peter turned out alright, all he had to do was respect his boundaries and teach him that it was always safe for him to speak his truth. Even if Tony didn’t like what Peter might say, because that was the two things Tony’s parents failed to do. They never listened to him, and argued with him when he tried to make a point, and they got involved at all the wrong moments, like when he had finally started to embrace inventing stuff, his dad had tried to get involved and then started critiquing everything about Tony’s project. Which had broken his heart. 

Peter squeezed Tony’s hand and Tony looked down at the cute kid, Peter was watching his face, which he realised must be showing some negative emotions and he smiled reassuringly at Peter, they moved forwards in the line and Peter tugged on Tony’s arm gently, “Mr Stark, are you okay?”. Peter’s worried voice melted Tony’s metal heart and Tony nodded, bending down slightly, “I’m okay” Peter smiled and Tony’s heart stuttered in his chest. He would do anything for this kid, and even if him and Pepper couldn’t directly look after him, Tony knew that they both would keep a lookout on him, and make sure that he was kept safe and out of harm's way. 

As they reached the counter, Tony stood up and lifted Peter with him, holding him on his hip and hugging him into his chest, “what d’ya want Pete?” he asked, Peter ordered his strawberry milkshake and then Tony ordered an iced coffee for himself, and paid. Taking them both over to the counter that served their drinks, he looked at Peter who was now looking around the room, liking being at a new height apparently. Peter smiled as he saw one of the servers making a strawberry milkshake and as it was served after a few moments of comfortable silence Tony put Peter down and helped him to insert a straw into the drink. 

Tony’s coffee arrived and as they were leaving, one hand in Peter’s and the other holding his drink, Tony’s pocket vibrated. Tony stopped and pulled Peter over to one of the outside tables and sat them down, fishing into his pocket and answering, keeping an eye on the innocent kid who was now watching the traffic. 

“Mhm” he replied, his lips sucking coffee through a straw absentmindedly. 

“Can you bring Peter and yourself back to the office please, they’ve made their decision” Tony’s chest tensed with nerves “a good one or bad one?”. 

Pepper replied “good”. 

\- 

Tony and Peter went in through the front entrance of the TPoOF building, and took the elevator to Pepper’s floor. Peter’s eyes were curiously watching everything, but he didn’t seem to be so inherently nervous as he was before. Tony squeezed Peter’s hand and guided him to Pepper’s office, as the door was open Tony just walked straight into the room. He was greeted with the faces of Pepper, two of Pepper’s senior managers, a random guy, and Happy. Peter smiled at Pepper and Happy, and his little hand gripped onto Tony’s a little harder than before. Tony looked down at Peter to make sure he was okay, and Tony smiled reassuringly at the boy whose eyes were gazing up at him. 

Tony smiled and walked Peter towards the couches and sat down, Peter sitting very close to Tony, already becoming attached apparently. Peter didn’t let go of Tony’s hand but he was watching everything going on in the room, curious as to what was going on. Pepper was still talking to the other people in the room and Tony didn’t understand what was really going on, the use of specialist words throwing him off every time he thought he understood what was going on. 

Pepper paused and they all nodded, they began shaking hands and Happy went to the door and assisted the others to leave, the random guy stayed though. Pepper walked over to Peter and Tony, and Tony smiled at his wife. “Heya Peter, did you enjoy your time with Tony?”. Peter nodded and smiled at Pepper, “we went and got cheeseburgers, and then we got strawberry milkshakes!” he wiggled happily in the chair and Tony and Pepper smiled at him. He was too cute. 

Pepper waved a hand towards the random guy. “This is Nick Fury, he’s my legal advisor, we all call him Fury.” Peter nodded and let go of Tony’s hand to wave at Fury. “Hello Mr Fury sir” he smiled happily. Fury smiled back awkwardly and watched the child take back Tony’s hand automatically. Pepper sat on the floor opposite Tony and Peter, and she cleared her throat. Peter was watching her and he didn’t seem to blink out of focus. Tony squeezed his hand gently, ‘its okay’ he tried to convey. 

Pepper began to explain that they had found a place for Peter to stay, and Peter seemed happy enough. Tony smiled each time Peter looked at him, reassuring him. Pepper told Peter about the situation, about how herself and Tony would be looking after him and Peter’s face shone with happiness. “Really?” he asked for the third time, they both nodded happily. Peter’s face suddenly grew cold and scared, he looked at Pepper “do you have other kids, are they mean? Will they hate me?”. Tony laughed, causing Peter to look up at him, scared. “Pete. We don’t have any kids, you’re just going to be with us for the time being. Then when your aunt is all better you can go back to living with her.” Peter nodded, smiling.

“Can I go see her?” he asked, Pepper looked at Tony and nodded, “mhm” he replied. Peter smiled again, and then began to tear up, “can I see my uncle too?”. Tony looked down at Peter, “It’s probably not the best idea, but you can definitely go to the funeral, I’ll take you”. Peter thanked Tony and wiped his tears away, Tony smiled tentatively at Pepper. Pepper smiled back, she knew how much Tony related to Peter right now, having lost his own parents at a young age. Pepper stroked Tony’s thigh gently, in her own reassuring way. They let Peter cry it out quietly, Tony’s hand holding Peter’s gently, and Pepper’s hand rubbing his arm gently. 

Peter stopped crying after a few minutes and sniffled loudly, Pepper helped him to blow his nose. Fury coughed gently and Tony jumped, having forgotten he existed. Fury smiled as he and Tony made eye contact, “you’ll both need to sign these contracts, and when you go see May Parker, you’ll need her consent to be given to look after the boy properly. It doesn’t need to happen, since the state can intervene because he has no legitimate guardian right now, but it makes the process less liable to suing and other malpractice later.” Tony and Pepper nodded, Peter looking between all the adults, confused.


	5. Chapter 5

Peter’s POV 

Peter smiled as he looked up at Tony, his new friend. He was being shown away from the car that had just driven them to this large white building. Peter was excited, he wanted to see Aunt May, he wanted to hug her and smile at her and play with her. He hadn’t been away from her in such a long time. 

He tugged on Tony’s arm and tried to walk forwards, but he was stopped in his tracks as he was picked up by Tony. Tony hugged Peter into his chest and carried him in, behind him Pepper and Happy talked quietly amongst them, and over Tony’s shoulder, Peter watched them, curious about if they were talking about him or not. 

His mind was focused back to Tony as he felt his large hand rub his back gently. He felt some of his jittery excitement dissipate, and he felt soothed and calmed by Tony’s large hand on his back. Peter moved his chin from resting on Tony’s shoulder, and tucked his head under Tony’s head, his nose pressed into Tony’s chest. 

Peter moved his hand to rest on Tony’s chest and he was surprised to feel a metal thing on his chest, “woz ‘at?” he mumbled, feeling a hundred times calmer now thanks to Tony’s embrace. Tony laughed gently and stroked his hand against Peter’s legs that he was supporting. “It’s my heart, kind of” Tony mumbled, not explaining anything else. Peter was confused, people’s hearts were inside of them normally… right? That’s what his science teacher, Miss Shuri, had said…

“Are you an alien Tony?” Peter whispered, not seeming scared, but respecting that Tony might not want to tell many people. “No Pete, it stops me from dying, like a heart does” he explained, “I’ll explain more when we’re out of here okay?”. Peter looked around him at that and uncurled himself from Tony’s chest and shifted so his legs were wrapped around Tony’s waist and his arms were around Tony’s neck. He looked around and noticed they were now in the building. They were in a corridor and there were many doors around them, Peter noticed that Happy and Pepper were in front of them, and a man who Peter didn’t recognise was leading them down the corridor. “Can I walk, Tony?” Peter asked, feeling the excitement building up inside him, and feeling the need to move overcome him. 

Tony stopped walking and put Peter down, holding hands they continued to walk down the corridor. Peter tried to listen to the doctor person but he couldn’t hear him properly, so instead, he just hummed a melody from in his head. 

The doctor opened the door after pausing and telling Peter to “be calm for her, okay buddy?” after the boy had nodded calmly and squeezed Tony’s hand the door was opened. Aunt May was sat on the bed that was in the middle of the room, she was alert and awake and Peter saw her eyes flash over everyone who was behind Peter. “Hi May,” Peter says, he watches as her eyes flick and rest on him, her eyes filling with tears. 

He lets go of Tony’s hand and walks up to her, and he feels himself get lifted onto the bed and soon he is wrapped in May’s arms and they are hugging and crying. Peter doesn’t really understand why he’s crying, maybe it’s the fact that he has missed his caregiver, or maybe it’s the fact that he misses Uncle Ben, or maybe its confusion at the whole situation. But he cries nonetheless. 

After a while, after May had hugged Peter so tight that his chest had hurt, after Tony, Pepper and Happy had introduced themselves, after all that, Peter looked up at May. “So you can come home now?” Peter asked, gently. May shook her head, “no, not until I get cleared from out of here,” she shook her head and kissed the top of Peter’s hair gently. “I’m not doing too good Petey, I need to rest for a while, but Mr Stark said that he’s here to take care of you until I’m better”. Peter looked up at Tony, “for how long though?” Tony shrugged and looked past Peter, at May. “Until May needs us to”. 

Peter nodded and smiled, he was glad it was Tony and Pepper and not anyone strange or mean. “Mr Stark,” May spoke to Tony, Peter watched them speak, his face flitting from watching one to the other. “Please may you bill me everything he costs you when this all over, I can’t imagine being indebted to you” Tony shook his head, “no.” He firmly declined May’s offer. He explained after a second of awkward silence, “I imagine that your medical bills will be bad enough, I don’t want to put even more pressure on you”. May thanked Tony and promised him, “when my bills are all paid then I’ll start paying you...” Peter wanted to speak and apologise for being such a point of conflict. 

Peter didn’t want to start crying, he really didn’t but then when Tony rushed forwards and put his hand on Peter’s wet cheek he realised he had started to cry. “‘M sorry” he mumbled, Tony and May shushed him in unison. “Its okay Pete,” Tony cooed, “sorry for upsetting you”. Peter shook his head, “‘s okay… I jus don’t wanna be a problem” Peter mumbled. Tony sat on May’s bed and hushed Peter, he stroked the boy’s face gently with his knuckles and the two adults on either side of Peter looked at each other. In some moment of telepathy, they both understood that Peter was the only thing they cared about. 

“You don’t have to pay me because I want to spend the money on him, please don’t try to take that honour away from me” Tony spoke, his eyes resting on Peter’s tear-stained face. May nodded and smiled at Peter and then at Tony, “thank you”. Tony turned to Happy, “stay and explain the Parker Protocol to May for me?” he asked, Happy nodded and Pepper opened the door, leaving after bidding May farewell. 

Peter looked up at Tony, “huh?” he asked, Tony explained that he would tell Peter later and that he would wait outside for Peter when he was ready to leave. Then it was just May and Peter, Happy was in the corner but Peter reckoned he wouldn’t be bothering them. “Hey Petey,” May started, “stay safe okay, tell your teachers if you aren’t happy with anything, and I am so so sorry for not being here for you...” she trailed off and Peter smiled up at her, “I will be okay, and I will try and come and see you whenever I can...” May smiled and hugged him into her chest. 

Peter and May stayed like that, hugged together, for an age, and when they finally said goodbye Peter was happy and calm, something he didn’t think he would be. When he left the room he saw Pepper and Tony standing against the wall of the corridor and talking with quiet voices. “Heya Pete” Pepper cooed when she saw the boy, “wanna go home?” she asked, holding his hand gently. Peter nodded but then halfway to the car Peter realised, “I don’t have any clothes...” he mumbled, looking at his outfit. He had been in the same clothes since yesterday morning when Uncle Ben had helped to dress him. 

Pepper nodded and held his hand tighter, “we’re going back to your old home Petey, to grab some of your stuff.” Peter smiled and then frowned at the thought of being there without May and Ben. “I miss him” he mumbled.


	6. Not a chapter

Hey, I’ll delete this when it’s not applicable, but I’ve got some stuff going on in my personal life thanks to miss rona but I’ll be back when I can.,. I’m just not in the mindset to be writing rn (gimme a week and I’ll be dying to get back) sorry for this :(


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